ham

I was lucky enough to be invited to see Berkshire pigs being broken down by skilled butchers. Just look at these magnificent rib chops. Alas most of that beautiful, tasty fat will be cut off. The butcher said that even a mere centimetre of this luscious makes some people believe that they are destined for a heart attack. Has no-one read Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes? The re-education continues.

Here are legs for my friends Mark and Bruce who have a new book, Ham: An Obsession with the Hindquarter dedicated to this cut, I know the fat wouldn’t scare them off. This post is a short and sweet post as I am off to Paris tomorrow and have a thousand and one things to do before I jump on the plane. Once in the city of light I will try to post more often.

This is my Easter ham with the Orange Dijon glaze recipe from Bones. We managed to demolish a good part of it for Easter lunch with my in-laws. I think their eyes were glazing over as I kept on talking about fat, but I have seen margarine in their fridge so they need all the help they can get. Ham fat, English butter on the table and organic milk in the potato gratin, olive oil with the braised rapini and garlic. More good fat by way of the pavlova with its topping of whipped cream and lightly poached hot house rhubarb. However, the best thing of all about Easter lunch yesterday is what I have here.
Yes, this wonderful Berkshire ham fat, white, smoky flavoured and absolutely delicious, I’ve already used it to cook some carrots to go with leftovers tonight. That’s what I love about ham – there are always leftovers and a thousand recipes using a slice or two of good ham. This is going to be a great eating week.